Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality of both men and women in the United States, so the health benefits gained from a better understanding of the mechanisms of cardioprotection could be enormous. Considerable epidemiological data indicates that consumption of moderate levels of alcoholic beverages decreases both the incidence of cardiovascular disease and the mortality associated with myocardial infarction. Preliminary studies have demonstrated that the cardioprotective effects of alcoholic beverages result from two distinct effects, one associated with ethanol and the other with the polyphenolic compounds prevalent in but not restricted to red wine. A major limitation of many of the previous studies, especially with the polyphenols, was the failure to ensure that the levels of consumption mimicked the levels achieved with the moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages. In addition, the majority of studies failed to differentiate the acute (single bolus) administration from chronic consumption of alcohol or polyphenols. This PPG Proposal has adopted an integrated approach using both animal and cell culture models for the study of acute and chronic exposure to ethanol and polyphenols. The primary purpose of Core C is to provide a consistent resource for the projects in the Program for measurement of key experimental parameters and treatment of animals with ethanol and polyphenols. The Core ensures consistency in protocols between projects, quality control for technical procedures and the overall design and planning of the projects. This latter aspect will ensure that unnecessary duplication of experiments does not occur and that data from one project may be compared with others. This will be achieved by establishing and integrating the following procedures and objectives: (1) standardization of the alcohol and polyphenol feeding and treatment protocols; (2) providing animals and tissues to Projects 1,2,3, and 4; (3) analysis of blood alcohol levels for all projects; (4) determination of polyphenols and metabolites in blood and tissues (aorta, heart and mitochondria); (5) in situ perfusion fixation of tissues for immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization; (6) harvesting and snap freezing of tissues for determination of protein and mRNA; (7) optimization and standardization of the immunological techniques for localization and quantification of protein.